Cut It Out! Apparel Are you a Cut It Out! Girl?!

Cut It Out! Apparel website & Blog were great during their 4 year span as an e-commerce site. Not only was the philosophy that grounded the brand sound and empowering, Cut It Out! Apparel had great blog posts. I can tell you I was sad when thir website was no more and was delighted when I was able to buy the domain with the goal of resurrecting the original site so those tees with their magnificent messages were still visible on the web.

Now do NOTE that you can't purchase the tees from this website, but if you were a fan of Cut It Out! Apparel you can now relive those great four years of a brand that not only had style, but also true heart.

My fantasy wish is that I could mail in my well worn Cut It Out! Apparel / T-shirts to a site that would replace each item, just like I recently did with the lenses from my favorite pair of glasses and sunglasses. What's this you might ask? I found an online site that allows a customer to use a free shipping label and mail in glasses and receive: glasses lens replacements. You can order single vision, progressive, bifocal, and trifocal replacement lenses in plastic and polycarbonate, high index, Trivex and even glass. And if you have sunglasses that need their lens replaced you can order custom tint, Transitions technology, polarized, and mirror coated lenses. Now I find that almost miraculous. In the case of ordering Cut It Out! Apparel replacements, I'm afraid that really will have to be in the miraculous miracle category. Oh, well. I can still dream.

"We have to realize we are building a movement"
- Dorothy Height

LADIES REPRESENT!!!!!
Empower. Love - honor yourself!
And do it in style.
Be a trend setter!
RESPECT is the new black!
Try it on. We're sure it'll look great on you!!!

Cut It Out! Apparel is a Brooklyn, NYC, based T-Shirt company that designs clothing with integrity in mind. At Cut It Out!, we believe in the power of positive messages. We know many girls love fashion, music and the pursuit of all things beautiful. So, we've designed a line of T-Shirts with style, flavor, and principle. To make them even more dope, we've added a twist.

Cut It Out! tees were created to promote healthy self esteem, and to enlighten those who have forgotten that RESPECT is long overdue! Cut it Out! Our designers believed women should assert their inner strengths and explore their individuality

“Our clothes are designed to empower females,” said Tirinda McNeill-Hixon, 33, who co-founded the company with her high school classmate, Noricia Anderson, 31. After a stint at Columbia Records and work on music videos by Usher and LL Cool J, she decided to express her opinions through her designs. “A lot of women in general are being degraded,” she said.

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Our Story

The inspiration for the brand, Cut It Out! Apparel (CIO!) was influenced by Founder & Creative Director Tirinda Hixon’s experience of directing a short documentary about teenage girls and self-esteem. This short titled, My Little Sis: A Series, explored the imagery seen at the time in both Rap and R&B videos. Her interacts with the young ladies in the documentary lead Hixon to research a number of issues related to women and self-esteem. Her investigation eventually lead to the idea for CIO!. She wanted to create a brand that allowed young women to express themselves in clothing that represented how great they felt about themselves.

To make Cut It Out! a reality Tirinda asked her longtime friend, Noricia Anderson, to partner with her. Noricia was working in the London court system at the time with disadvantaged youths. Reaching out to these teens heightened her desire to help young people realize their true self-worth and full potential. Noricia accepted, coming on board as CIO!’s Co-Founder and General Manager.

In 2007 the two friends officially established CIO! that was based in Brooklyn, New York. Their products are aimed at young women of all shapes and sizes. The line consisted of a variety of styles, with an emphasis on t-shirts designed with an empowering statement that forced people to acknowledge how most girls feel about the negative labels placed upon them by society.

From its inception CIO! successfully sold their tees throughout the United States (NY, CA, LA, WA, DC, FL, UT, etc.), as well as globally (Africa, Austrailia, Germany, Canada, England, etc.) In addition they created an e-commerce site that also sold the stylish tees.

The Hixon and Anderson developed a way to bring girls together by reinforcing positive imaging and boosting self-worth by launching their “Are you a Cut It Out! Girl?!” campaign!

The campaign encouraged girls to be a part of something special. The tees became a vehicle for young women to express themselves in an empowering way.

"It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it."- Lena Horne

Blog Posts

SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2011

Summer Sale!

Shop Online Now and Save 30% OFF of your entire purchase!!!

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH: www.cutitoutapparel.com!

Hello Ladies...

We've updated our website!

The look is simple and clean, and filled with lots of information about the Cut It Out! brand and our popular products! Take a look:

Here's what's new to our site:

We've updated the overall look and feel of our website with a cleaner design, and more content.

Our store has a new look! Products have been restocked and are ready to order! We tend to sell out of our popular items very fast, so make sure you log on and get yours while supplies last!

We custom cut your tee! - For an additional fee of $5, we'll custom cut your tee in to one of our styles listed on our CUTS page

We want to hear from you! So we've launched our Are you a Cut It Out! girl?! campaign. Get more details here. Your entry could get you a free CIO! tee!

We've added a Gallery page. View photos of the CIO ladies out and about at festivals and events. There are also some pics of our customers and loyal supporters in our Made You Look section! Send in your pics and we'll make sure to add them to our gallery too! (madeyoulook@cutitoutapparel.com)

We'll make sure to keep you posted on our upcoming events, product updates, and upcoming sales!

As always, we appreciate the support!

Are you a Cut It Out! girl?

xo

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TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 2010

DanceAfrica2010

We had a really FUN weekend at DanceAfrica2010. The music, the food, the shopping and the beautiful people were in abundance!

This was our first DanceAfrica experience, as vendors...but it won't be our last! (See you next year!)

Here are some photos of some beautiful ladies that stopped by to show off their CIO goodies:

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SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010

Cut It Out! x Lil Raggamuffin Summer Camp

Make a difference...

Now in it’s fourth year, the Lil Raggamuffin Summer Camp (LRSC) is dedicated more than ever to making a difference for our youth. LRSC is an international youth development organization that creates programs focused on artistic self expression, experimental learning, youth leadership, holistic health, community organizing and entrepreneurialism. The LRSC is dedicated to “creating stronger communities by developing youth to be agents of social change.”

DanceAfrica2010

We had a really FUN weekend at DanceAfrica2010. The music, the food, the shopping and the beautiful people were in abundance!

This was our first DanceAfrica experience, as vendors...but it won't be our last! (See you next year!)

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2010

Come join the DanceAfrica festivities with Cut It Out!

We will be at the DanceAfrica 2010 Bazaar this Memorial Day Weekend:

DanceAfrica, now in it's 33rd year, has a longstanding tradition of festivities surrounding dance, art, music, film and the culture of the African spirit.

See you there!

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010

Today is National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Did you know that today, May 5th is National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy? The purpose of this day is to have teens focus on the importance of avoiding teen pregnancy and other consequences of unprotected sex, (i.e., STDs, HIV, etc.):

Gwendolyn Brooks was an African American writer and poet. Her work dealt with the everyday life of urban blacks. She was the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize (1949), and in 1968 she was named the poet laureate of Illinois.

Elizabeth Catlett is an African American sculptor and painter who expressed the struggles of her people using her amazing talent. Her art pieces helped to bring a social consciousness to the world of art.

Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Deborah Byron Chesimard) is a political activist and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army; who, after being convicted of the murder of NJ State Trooper, Werner Foerster, escaped from a NJ prison and is now living in exile in Cuba.

Cathy Hughes is a radio and television personality, business executive, and entrepreneur.

"[She] is the founder and chairperson of Radio One, Inc., the largest African American owned and operated broadcast-company in the nation. Radio One is the first African American company in radio history to dominate several major markets simultaneously and possesses the first woman-owned radio station to rank #1 in any major market. In 1995, Radio One purchased WKYS in Washington, D.C. for $40 million — the largest transaction between two Black companies in broadcasting history.

Today is the first day of Black History Month. We like to use our blog during this month to highlight the many black women in our history that have influenced our culture in more ways than one...today we start with:

Zora Neale Hurston

(January 7, 1891 - January 28, 1960)

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Alabama in January of 1891. She attended Howard University, and later Barnard College, where she was the only black female student. She received her BA in Anthropology in 1927

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010

Help Haiti Earthquake Relief

As most of you may already know, Haiti suffered a magnitude 7.0 earthquake two days ago that literally left the country in shambles. Our hearts go out to Haiti as they face this devastation. Fortunately, many people and organizations have come together to provide relief to Haiti through volunteering, and donating money, clothing and food. Below is a list of places you may contact to assist with relief efforts

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2010

New Year..New Opportunities!

The ladies at Cut It Out! welcome you all to a new year of prosperity!

2009 was a great year for Cut It Out! and we're looking forward to 2010 being even better! Last year we were blessed to meet a lot of new, and fascinating people. We are grateful for the opportunities we had to connect with customers, our community, bloggers and fellow entrepreneurs. The relationships we've made, and the support we've been given has without doubt, helped to build the Cut It Out! brand. We look forward to building lasting relationships with all of you, and welcome new opportunities in the New Year!

Thank you for supporting the Cut It Out! brand!!

This year, be sure to check in with Cut It Out! as we continue to produce creative tees with vivid colors and bold statements. We are currently working on releasing new products for Spring 2010! We're also working hard to make Cut It Out! tees readily available nationally and globally.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009

World AIDS Day 2009

Today is World AIDS Day. HIV/AIDS affects millions around the globe, so we are dedicating this post to all of those out there dealing with the disease. Cut It Out! strives to empower females to take control of their health, inside and out. We encourage everyone to be proactive in living healthier lives and part of that involves taking better steps to prevent contracting the HIV/AIDS virus. We support those that are living with the virus and encourage them to seek the most suitable treatments available to prevent the onset of AIDS.